LETTER: Too much sugar unhealthy for kids

Health professionals are predicting that this generation of children will be the first generation in the history of Canada that will not have a longer lifespan than their parents.

I don’t know about the rest of you but that prediction scares the life out of me.

The reasons for this dire prediction include the high rate of childhood obesity and the low levels of physical activity among our youth. Our children are spending too much time on computers and in front of the TV.

Too much refined sugar in our diet is directly linked to many adverse health conditions. The health consequences of consuming too much sugar in drinks and other foods are linked to obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, cancer, gum disease, tooth decay and early puberty in girls.

A child does need to consume a small amount of sugar each day because it is a good source of energy. It is important to provide a child with nutritious sources of sugar such as fruit, vegetables and dairy products.

What is dangerous to a child’s health is the added sugar that is found in energy drinks, pop and baked goods.

A child should consume no more than three teaspoons of sugar a day. A 12-oz. can of pop contains nine-and-a-half teaspoons of added sugar. One third of teenage boys consume three pop a day. You do the math!

Government legislature in Nova Scotia mandates that pop and juice packs cannot be served in daycares in our province. These youngsters drink only water or milk.

Soda pop is the largest source of refined sugar in our children’s diet. The soda pop industry spends $700 million in advertising each year so they are certainly a force to be reckoned with.

Last year, one of our own took a dramatic stand against sugary drinks. He made the cover page of Diabetes Dialogue which is a national publication in Canada.

Pharmacist Graham MacKenzie removed all sugar-sweetened drinks from his store, Stones Pharmacy, in scenic Baddeck. He made this drastic move out of a personal decision to improve the health of his customers but had no idea that his decision would make headlines all across Canada.

MacKenzie knew that his decision would hit him at the cash register but he knew that sugary drinks such as pop and sports drinks were having a detrimental effect on his customers. Pharmacist MacKenzie is quoting as saying: “I wasn’t expecting the world to become 100 per cent free of sugary drinks when I made the decision to pull them. I wanted to make a statement about how bad these things were”.

This pharmacist stood by his convictions. Good for him!

Like MacKenzie, I am not naive enough to think that sugary drinks will be banished from the world. I just want parents and grandparents to stop and think the next time they pass a child a can of pop or a bag of candy.

Children can be treated with colourful stickers or the promise of a fun family activity like a walk or a sports activity.